Forum Topic

The pope is dead; long live the pope

Now we know the result, Cardinal Ratzinger is the new Pope.No changes then:  no women priests, no contraception,  no acceptance of the gay community, etc., etc.Cardinal Ratzinger was the foregone conclusion IMHO - chosen more by the Curia than by the other cardinals.(Back to my dugout!)

Ann S. Allridge ● 7311d11 Comments

I believe the Catholic Church is growing in  third world areas.  I am no longer able to comment on Britain, but church attendance in Ireland has fallen dramatically.Please, don't come screaming at me to contradict this.30 years ago, when I first came here, every church would be packed to  the doors every Sunday and holy day, and there were usually two services Saturday evening and  four or five  services every Sunday.The village church near me is now down to one service on Saturday evening and one only on  Sundays!    It is proving almost impossible to recruit young men to the priesthood, and still the hierarchy refuse to consider allowing women to join the ranks.  Unbelievable.

Ann S. Allridge ● 7308d

"We will find weapons of mass destruction - they are out there." "Tough on crime and on the causes of crime" "I promise you Gordon you will be leader next time" "We will not introduce top-up fees for students" "I remember watching Jackie Milburn from the terraces"The Catholic Church isn't alone in having a leader who can be an embarrassment to its members the difference is that as an institution it seems to be getting stronger despite the bizarre and archaic pronouncements that it sometimes comes out with. Does this not suggest to you that many people are looking for something beyond the censorious political correctness that seems to pass for most people's belief system in this day and age.As for women in the Catholic Church, I am not qualified to speak for them but if you are right they are a naive or hypocritical bunch. In fact they seem to be quite comfortable with their role in the Church and the issue is a lot more complex than you present it to be.

Dan Evans ● 7309d

It's one thing to pray to an icon - quite another to allow women today to play their full part in the church I think.Benedict on women: "Ban on women priests is necessary to safeguard the unity of the church and guide the faithful".Benedict on Faiths: "Anglicanism and Protestantism are not proper churches. Other religions are deficient", on Gay people: "Homosexuality is an intrinsic moral evil. Gay's human rights can be legitimately limited" The last is a real corker "Rock music is a vehicle of anti-religion and the expression of basic passions". Words fail me!

Vanessa Smith ● 7309d

Vanessa, I'm not RC, but I don't think you can really say that as, after all, the Virgin Mary - a woman - is as much worshipped, or more so in the RC faith - as Jesus!

Lois Westby ● 7309d

I'm not patronising anyone - I am appalled as an individual that nearly EVERY major religion has a down on women, some progress has been made in the CofE thank heavens. If women who are members of the catholic church are prepared to put up with being treated as some sort of dirty secret, then so be it, it just really offends me.

Vanessa Smith ● 7309d

"I cannot think even in my furthest flights of fancy that the Labour Party bears any resemblance to a major religion!"That is certainly true because whereas the membership of the Labour party is tumbling the Catholic Church appears to have stabilised its membership in this country and is growing strongly elsewhere. For an outsider this seems strange as the views expressed by the Church are archaic and sometimes bizarre but the Church is clearly offering something that political parties are not. Whether you agree with them or not, the moral absolutes presented by the Pope are more appealing to many than the vacuous unprincipled and opportunist nonsense that New Labour claims as 'ideals'.The new Pope is very clearly strongly committed to human rights - its just he has a different definition of what constitutes human to you. As for equal opportunities I do find it inexplicable why women are not allowed to be priests but it would be very patronising to the millions of women in the world who are committed members of this Church to be 'appalled' on their behalf.

Dan Evans ● 7310d

I cannot think even in my furthest flights of fancy that the Labour Party bears any resemblance to a major religion!Nice try, but it won't wash with me! I really despaired when I saw some of the things that this new Pope has said - from them I gather human rights and equal opportunities don't figure highly on his list of priorities, and as for women  - well just forget them! Appalling!

Vanessa Smith ● 7310d

I'm not so sure his views are out of tune with millions of catholics in Africa and South America in particular. Britain is not in the upper echelons of Catholic countries, it having so few catholics as you point out.We in the developed world sometimes think we have a representative view,I'm not so sure we can represent the views of those in the 3rd world where the church means more .

Keith Iddon ● 7310d

It does seem strange to me that an organisation should have a leader so out of tune with the views of its followers but this isn't really unique, is it.However to say the Catholic Church is losing members isn't really accurate. According to the BBC web site when Pope John Paul II took over 8.7% of the UK's population were baptised Catholic. When he died the figure was 8.1%. At a time of increased secularism and generally declining religious worship the R.C. Church became this country's largest religion in terms of regular attendance at service. If this slight fall is indeed down to protecting vested interests and jobs for the boys perhaps this would also explain the dramatic fall in Labour party membership over the same period.

Dan Evans ● 7310d

I'm with you on this one Ann, no chance of coming into the 21 Century with the rest of us then, and they wonder why they are losing members! This is a case of protecting vested interests, jobs for the good old BOYS, just what the world needs, another fundamentalist religious leader. Oh joy!

Vanessa Smith ● 7311d

Give the good Papa a chance ANN, he's only been in post for 5 minutes. Given that he's one of the old school and is against the changes you want, he might yet come round to your way. After all, as a young man he once swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler and he's since changed his mind. Given time, I think there's every reason to believe he'll change his mind again. :-o

Gerry Tan ● 7311d